Day Minus 2. Waiting in Portsmouth

Even though I got to bed at a ridiculous time for the UK I was still up and about just after 5am US time so I spent some time doing bits and bobs then went out to Wal-Mart.

I came back for breakfast in the hotel.

The breakfast was disposable. Completely disposable. Not just the food. Everything. The cups, plates and bowls were all Styrofoam and the utensils plastic. Not a bottle of Fairy Liquid in sight and not a bottle of Fairy Liquid needed. They even had Coffee Mate in liquid form and it was 'diet'!

The ubiquitous TV was in the dining room and set to ESPN. Those of you who haven't been to the States may have heard of ESPN. It is a channel devoted entirely to sport. Sorry - AMERICAN sport. The programme that was on was called 'Mike and Mike' and they were talking about the Boston Celtics winning the 'World Basketball Championships'. No, I hadn't heard about them either and it appears that only American teams enter. That seems to be a minor detail over here.

Mike and Mike were occasionally replaced on the screen by, 'This is Michael Kim coming to you with another ESPN interrupdate (get it?)' with his own fanfare. The first 'interrupdate' was about Rounders or that's what it looked like. He said something about the 'A's being behind at the bottom of the ninth, then (some inpronouncable name) who had been O for 4 so far, suddenly went 3 for O when the bases were loaded and pitched in with a curver that looked slightly suspect.' And they think cricket is difficult to understand.

The next 'interrupdate' was about some games that are going on in Beijing. Now, at home, I thought these were called the Olympic Games and countries from all over the world took part. But it seems there are some other games running at the same time because all that Michael 'interrupdated' us about were successes for 'Team USA'. Some other countries' names were shown on the screen but only when they had been soundly beaten by Team USA into second or third place, but no one else had won anything so they couldn't be the same thing.

Isn't insularity wonderful?

So to the rest of the day which was spent doing a 40-odd mile tour from the hotel. I went up into Maine and along the coast there to York Beach, Long Beach, finally ending up at Ogunquit. Not a clue what that means, but it was a very pleasant run, shook off the flight and got the legs in motion again. The weather was hot and sunny and I managed a stop for food and water outside York Beach. There was a nice lighthouse there, but there was also a sea mist which obscured any views. It was a good ride and I could easily see why this part of the States is called New England.
On my return I met a couple of other people who have checked in for the ride. One did the Cross America ride some time ago and the other is a 'first timer' with AbB. Both of them are American.

Looks like I won't be riding alone!